How I Would Book… Samoa Joe in WWE (Part Three)

Part One

Part Two

Ah, Samoa Joe on the SmackDown! brand. Away from the packed RAW roster in 2018, Samoa Joe had a chance to flourish as a true main-eventer in WWE. He was in the main-event scene very briefly on RAW but now he was on another brand in SmackDown! Live, during a time where it was heralded as a hot wrestling show. However, while Joe did get opportunities, he ended WrestleMania 35 stuck in a forgettable mid-card feud which must have been frustrating for Samoa Joe fans. Can we elevate Joe to greater heights? Well, I think I can and we’re going to continue to re-book the career of Samoa Joe in WWE. Here’s How I Would Book… Samoa Joe in WWE – PART THREE.

I’ll be honest, I absolutely hated Samoa Joe’s run on SmackDown! Live. He was featured in main-event title programs and had plenty of people to work with, but he was just not utilised to the level that he should have been. His most memorable moments on that brand included taking personal shots at the likes of AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy, with the serious aspect of his character dissipating. It was like we were watching a different Samoa Joe to what was working on RAW, with the emphasis being on him being a jerk rather than him being a badass. It’s one thing if you have smaller guys like Daniel Bryan acting like jerks, because they could be viewed as more “slimey” than the good guys. However, it’s not a role that fit Samoa Joe at all.

Don’t get me wrong, Samoa Joe absolutely did his best with whatever he was given. However, he could have only went so far without WWE taking more liberties with pushing the man as a proper threat to the top babyfaces. Without many major victories to his name, he was just unable to be elevated further. Really, there was no reason as to why he couldn’t win the WWE Championship from AJ Styles during their storyline to at least garner interest in the rivalry.

In this part, I have a pretty ambitious plan for Samoa Joe to thrive as a main-event heel and push him in a way which more than one person can benefit from such a run. So let’s get to it…

Samoa Joe returned on the RAW after WrestleMania 34 to begin a feud with Roman Reigns. I’ll be completely honest, I absolutely hated this feud too. The timing of the program was just not great, with Roman Reigns also feuding with Brock Lesnar at the same time. Joe also ended up just being another victim to Roman Reigns so Roman could recover from losing to Brock at Mania. It was just a waste of a feud for both men and their match in the main event of Backlash ended up being extremely anti-climatic.

To spice up the Brock vs. Roman formula slightly, I’d take their singles match set for The Greatest Royal Rumble show and add Samoa Joe to the mix to make it a triple threat match. It is essential the SummerSlam 2017 main-event but just without Braun Strowman, with Brock defending the Universal Championship against Roman and Joe. Brock retains the championship which leads to Joe and Roman still feuding into WWE Backlash 2018.

The Backlash match was extremely disappointing in real life so you’d need to give it a gimmick to entice the fans a lot more. I’d suggest having a steel cage match for the Backlash match between Joe and Roman to at least spice it up a little bit. You can still have Roman win by escaping the cage and you can also protect Samoa Joe in defeat. Roman continues to stay on RAW while Samoa Joe is drafted to SmackDown!…

Samoa Joe was drafted to SmackDown! as part of the 2018 draft and we’ll stick to this. Samoa Joe likely would have been lost in the shuffle on RAW, given how large they made that roster in 2018. On SmackDown!, he was in the upper-midcard/main-event positions for most his run on that brand. It worked out for him, given he was put in the WWE title picture for a number of months. Therefore, this seemed like a good fit with a lot of fresh faces for him to feud with on a new brand.

His days on SmackDown! are pretty similar to what they were in real life. Samoa Joe wins a lot of matches and gets big wins over the likes of Daniel Bryan to get him ready for his feud with AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. The Samoa Joe/AJ Styles match at SummerSlam 2018 still happens but it is not centered around AJ’s family. A personal storyline like this is fine when executed well but it really wasn’t when it came to AJ and Joe. AJ wasn’t particularly presented as a strong babyface when compared to Samoa Joe, who was talking about his family every week. To be perfectly honest, it’s a strange dynamic for the monster heel to be pulling the personal cheap attacks against a much smaller babyface champion. Samoa Joe really shouldn’t need to resort to such tactics.

This is just a feud about how much both men have changed since their days in TNA and ROH, with it coming to a head at SummerSlam where they’ll both wrestle each other for the WWE title. Two TNA “originals” who feuded for the TNA X-Division title would now be fighting for the main title in professional wrestling in WWE. That’s a simple story right there.

Samoa Joe DEFEATS AJ Styles and wins the WWE Championship. Joe not winning the title at this time was really perplexing to me. The AJ Styles title reign was going OK I guess but he was also coming off a really long feud with Shinsuke Nakamura. With Joe winning the title, this would at least add new life to the WWE Championship picture. The AJ Styles title reign was about 9 months long at this point so a change of pace would have certainly helped.

Joe wins the title and then defends the title successfully against AJ in a rematch. There’s plenty of challengers for Samoa Joe to defend the title against for the rest of 2018 and into 2019. He can defend the title against the likes of Jeff Hardy, where Joe can cut the same promos on Jeff that he did in real life and gain some heat. He can defend the title against Daniel Bryan, a man who was never beaten for the WWE Championship when he was forced to vacate the title in 2014. He can even wrestle Brock again at Survivor Series 2018, a rematch from the year before as part of the SmackDown! vs. RAW show. There’s a lot of possibilities.

We’re going to take Samoa Joe all the way to WRESTLEMANIA 35 as the champion, where he’ll be the defending champion against Kofi Kingston and KofiMania. I know a lot of people really enjoyed the Daniel Bryan heel turn going up against Kofi Kingston. That ended up being a clever bit of dramatic ironic with Daniel Bryan calling Kofi the “B+ Player” that didn’t belong in the main-event.

However, I think Samoa Joe could have worked really well in this role too against Kofi Kingston. The whole storyline with Kofi was that Mr McMahon and WWE didn’t see him as championship material. Joe would represent the big man that WWE would usually go for as their ideal champion while Kofi would have to overcome the odds. It actually makes it more of a daunting task for Kofi to beat Joe, especially if you push Joe as he’s usually pushed as an unbeatable monster. It really drives home the David vs. Goliath narrative.

Kofi beats Samoa Joe to end his WWE Championship reign at WrestleMania 35 and KofiMania is alive and well, having overcome all the odds at the biggest stage in sports entertainment…

That wraps up Part Three of this series. The WWE Championship reign of Samoa Joe was something I always had planned since coming up with the idea of this “How I Would Book..” series. The biggest sticking point was replacing Daniel Bryan, who was excellent in the role as the Eco Champion, with Samoa Joe as the man to go up against Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania. However, I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to put the WWE Championship on Samoa Joe. Of all the wrestlers that have been in WWE that have never been world champion, Samoa Joe is very high on the list of wrestlers that SHOULD have been world champion at least ocnce. In Part Three, we’ve been able to accomplish this fantasy booking!

Join us in part four where we wrap up Samoa Joe’s WWE career with hopefully more of a bang than with a whimper…

How I Would Book series

#1 – How I Would Book… Rey Mysterio vs AJ Styles

#2 – How I Would Book… Batista vs Brock Lesnar (Part One and Part Two)

#3 – How I Would Book… Wrestlemania 29 (Part One, Part Two, Part Threeand Part Four)

#4 – How I Would Book… Eddie Guerrero’s Road To Wrestlemania 22 (Part Oneand Part Two)

#5 – How I Would Book… The nWo 19th Anniversary Special (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Final Part)

#6 – How I Would Book… Roman Reigns vs Undertaker

#7 – How I Would Book… The End Of The Streak (Part One, Part Two (John Cena), Part Three (CM Punk), Part Four (Randy Orton), Part Five (Bray Wyatt), Final Part)

#8 – How I Would Book… Roman Reigns vs The Rock

#9 – How I Would Book… Kurt Angle’s Return To WWE

#10 – How I Would Book… John Cena vs The Rock III

#11 – How I Would Book… Kevin Owens as Intercontinental Champion

#12 – How I Would Book… Christian’s World Title Run In 2011

#13 – How I Would Book… Roman Reigns vs John Cena

#14 – How I Would Book… Dean Ambrose Winning The WWE Championship

#15 – How I Would Book… Batista vs Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker

#16 – How I Would Book… Roman Reigns vs Undertaker (Wrestlemania 32)

#17 – How I Would Book… AJ Styles’ Road to WrestleMania 32

#18 – How I Would Book… CM Punk As Nexus Leader (Part One and Part Two)

#19 – How I Would Book… WrestleMania 32

#20 – How I Would Book… Who Ran Over Stone Cold?

#21 – How I Would Book… Rusev in WWE (Part One, Part Two and Part Three)

#22 – How I Would Book… Wade Barrett in WWE (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four and Part Five)

#23 – How I Would Book… The 2018 Bayley vs. Sasha Banks Feud

#24 – How I Would Book… Samoa Joe in WWE (Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four)

John Cena Requires Shoulder Surgery, May Miss Wrestlemania 32

How’s it going everybody? This week has been a huge week for wrestling as 2016 has started off with some heavy news. There’s been reports of wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling signing with the WWE, the Royal Rumble match will now be for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE’s plans for Wrestlemania are set to change yet again as they’ve been struck with another huge blow.

John Cena has confirmed via Twitter that he will be undergoing shoulder surgery in Birmingham, Alabama and according to PWInsider, he could be sidelined with a rotator cuff injury which may see him out for 6-9 months.

Rather upside down start to 2016 as tomorrow I will head to Birmingham for shoulder surgery. Life's full of set backs but #nevergiveup

— John Cena (@JohnCena) January 7, 2016

It really is a huge blow for WWE going into Wrestlemania season and their plans for the event. I’ve talked a few times before about how there was no real indication about what the card was going to look like but I think it was pretty clear that Cena was going to be a big part of it so again, I bet things are getting nutty within WWE’s creative team.

When Seth Rollins went down with his injury last year, it forced WWE to change their plans for the next few months as Seth was obviously the champion and probably set for a big match himself at Mania. I think it was more of a concern with that incident as Seth was the champion and nobody was really ready to take the title from him.

Reports suggest that there were plans for Roman Reigns to beat Seth Rollins at Survivor Series anyway for the belt but Roman was still not over to the level of his push at the time. Now though, things are going much better for Reigns and he really is becoming a top star in his own right.

 

However, I still think with Cena’s injury that all hands are on deck for the writers. The reason I say this is because if Roman Reigns goes down, who do they have to be the top babyface on the main roster after Wrestlemania season?

Think about it. How many wrestlers can you think of? Dean Ambrose would be one of those guys that they would get behind but only because they have no other choice. When they’ve pushed Ambrose in the past, it’s been more of a reluctant push for him. They’d put him in the main event scene but not a lot was done to protect him while he was there. Therefore when he got out of those title feuds, he was right back down the card.

Now let’s think about the other babyfaces. Dolph Ziggler? Neville? They could give the ball to them but it was not like either of them were protected this week on RAW. Ziggler lost to HEATH SLATER (albeit with interference) and Neville lost clean to Kevin Owens. Who could possibly take these two seriously as main eventers? In fact, the only babyfaces that won on Monday night were Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch and Titus O’Neil. It’s not like they’re going to give Titus a really big push towards the title either (even though I’d personally love to see that!) so as it stands, nobody is close to being over to a top level.

I think it’s probably accurate to say that while the roster is the most talented one probably in the history of the company, it could also be said that this could be the most underdeveloped roster of all time leading into a Wrestlemania in terms of star power. Wrestlemania 2000 was a bad one as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Undertaker were both out due to injuries but at least wrestling was hot around that time and they had The Rock becoming the top star while Austin was out. This time around, they’ve got no-one near to the level of overness that The Rock was on.

It’s a sad state of affairs for WWE in terms of their roster and John Cena does not help with his injury. It’s a blow to WWE’s future plans. John Cena was advertised for the Royal Rumble event and was even on the poster for the show. The chances are that he was going to have a big part of it. I suspect that their plans for Cena would be for him to go up against Roman Reigns for the belt in the main event of Wrestlemania.

I know they did that tease after RAW a week or two ago but there were also reports of Cena going up against Undertaker. To be honest, I didn’t see WWE having anyone else on the main roster to go up against Roman so that’s why I thought it was going to be Cena. They need an active wrestler coming out of Wrestlemania as champion so I just dismissed the Taker rumours and thought that this was the year where Cena was either going to set up his match with Roman as the challenger or was going to get his 16th title reign and his third Rumble win to tie with Stone Cold Steve Austin for most Rumble wins.

It’s very interesting from a business perspective about how much impact Cena will have. There’s no real precedent for Cena being out for an extremely long period of time. Cena’s rehab has been superhuman at times and he really has pulled off some insane injury recoveries in the past! I wouldn’t want to rush Cena back but WWE would probably want him back sooner if the pay-per-view buys, merchandise and TV numbers don’t do so well.

I think from a merchandise perspective, it’s going to be a hard few months. John Cena is obviously their top guy in terms of t-shirt sales and other merchandise. If he’s not around though, it’s not like they’ll be releasing more t-shirts for the foreseeable future as he won’t be around to wear them. I feel that they are going to take a huge hit in that department. John Cena could take on an non-wrestling/authority figure role while he’s injured I guess, in order to keep up his merchandise.

I don’t think there’s any real correlation between pay-per-view buys/WWE Network subscriptions and Cena’s effect on them because again, he’s not really been out for a really long period of time. I remember that John Cena was not booked for the TLC 2011 event at all and the buy-rates went up from the year before but again, that’s very hard to go off because that happened years ago. It’s very hard to say how big of an impact his absence will have.

As far as TV ratings is concerned, it’s not like the ratings are plummeting right now. There was a time after Cena took his break last year that the ratings did drop to their lowest in nearly 20 years but the ratings have rose up in the past month or so, largely due to how well Reigns is getting over.

It’s all really up in the air about what’ll happen from a business stand-point. All I know is that the odds of Roman Reigns winning the Royal Rumble this year have really went up in my estimation. Roman’s doing so well and I think the company will be behind Roman more than ever now that Cena’s out. I think that’s a great thing but there’s not a lot of challengers out there that could really be considered as legitimate main event talent unless you were to dip into the part-timer pool.

Even that is limited though. Undertaker seems very close to calling it a day and his health is really unpredictable at this point. We don’t know how well Sting is physically. It seems that Daniel Bryan will never be cleared to compete by the WWE doctores. The Rock is a movie star that probably wouldn’t have the time to be the champion again. The only one I can think off that would make sense is Brock Lesnar but I don’t think they’d be willing to pay him more often.

I think Roman vs. Brock for the title is really the way to go for Wrestlemania. Brock does have more of a proven track-record for pay-per-view buys and TV ratings than anyone on the main roster but again, it’s going to be a costly endeavour.

For those of you wondering, this will be the first Wrestlemania John Cena will miss since he debuted on the main roster in 2002. That’s incredible if you think about it because again, there’s no real precedent set for Cena’s effect on the buy-rates for Wrestlemania.

It’ll be interesting to see how WWE reacts to this to say the least. Maybe they won’t need to panic depending on Roman but losing a top star is always a bad deal. When you lose a star like John Cena, it could end up being a catastrophic deal for them.

Tweet to @ArmbarExpress to share your thoughts or leave a comment to tell me what you think about this news and what do you think the Wrestlemania 32 card will look like with John Cena out of commission.

Wrestling Flashback – The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels & Triple H Wrestlemania Feud

The Undertaker’s streak. Many tried to beat it. Monsters like Mark Henry, King Kong Bundy and Giant Gonzalez have tried to crush the Dead Man. They failed. Some have put up championships against the Undertaker, hoping to be known as the great champion that ended the Undertaker’s streak. Batista, Edge and Psycho Sid all put their titles on the line against Undertaker, only to lose those belts they hold dear and become part of the streak. Men like CM Punk had tried to use head games as a means to break the streak, but could not get the job done. Many tried. One succeeded. However, none of the matches came close to the excitement and story-telling than Undertaker’s streak of matches against Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

It was not like none of matches before his encounters with Shawn and Triple H, that spanned from Wrestlemania 25 to Wrestlemania 28, were any good. There were some beauties that the Undertaker took part in against the likes of Randy Orton, Batista, Edge, Ric Flair and even Triple H at Wrestlemania 17. However, none of them stole the show quite like the matches in the saga between Taker, Michaels and Triple H.

These matches were usually a thing of beauty but the story-telling of these matches were even more impressive. At Wrestlemania 25, Shawn Michaels was the first man to step up. With Shawn Michaels being almost an exclusive to the RAW brand and the Undertaker being almost exclusive to SmackDown!, these two legends never seemed to collide during the brand split of WWE. However, when the two of them would battle in the Royal Rumble, it was usually exceptional. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels produced possibly the best finish to a Royal Rumble match in 2007. While Undertaker won that particular encounter, Shawn returned the favour by eliminating Undertaker at the 2008 Royal Rumble. At Wrestlemania 25, we got to see Shawn and Undertaker go at it for the first time since 1998… in a match that put an end to Shawn’s career for four years.

Shawn was confident though, particular bragging pre-match about how the Undertaker had never beaten him. The two clashed and it was quite possibly the best Wrestlemania match we’ll ever see in our life time. These men kicked out of everything they could throw at each other. Shawn even kicked out of the Undertaker’s tombstone piledriver which caused Jim Ross to, and I quote, “have an out-of-body experience.” In the end, Undertaker prevailed in what was the match of the night by a HUGE margin. And they weren’t finished there…

Both Undertaker and Shawn Michaels would take a hiatus from the WWE following Wrestlemania, returning in August 2009. Shawn had re-united DX and battled Legacy and Jeri-Show en route to winning the Unified WWE Tag Team titles while Undertaker dominated the SmackDown! roster en route to winning the World Heavyweight Championship. At the 2009 Slammys, Michaels and Taker won the Slammy for Match of the Year. While accepting the award, Michaels issued a challenge to the Undertaker for a rematch at Wrestlemania 26. Undertaker declined, so Michaels would try to force the issue at the 2010 Royal Rumble. If Michaels won the match, he could challenge for Undertaker’s World title and more importantly… the streak. Sadly, Shawn was not able to win the rumble match. Shawn’s life continued to deteriorate, as he was unable to accept his loss to the Undertaker the year before. Michaels’ obsession would lead to Elimination Chamber, where he cost Undertaker the World title. The next night on RAW, Michaels goaded Taker into a rematch claiming that Taker wanted revenge. Taker accepted with one condition… if Shawn lost, his career would be over. Michaels stated that if he couldn’t be Undertaker, he’d have no career and he accepted the stipulation.

While this match was not at the level of their match at Wrestlemania 25, this was still great. It was the main event of the show and rightfully so. Shawn kicked out of everything the Undertaker had and refused to go down. Michaels slapped Undertaker to get him to fight and Undertaker went into a fury. Taker gave Michaels one final tombstone and that was that…. Shawn Michaels’ career was over.

Having beaten Shawn Michaels in two incredible Wrestlemania matches in a row, the question was this… what could WWE possibly do to follow up two of the greatest matches in Wrestlemania history? Their solution was to put Undertaker up against the “Cerebral Assassin” Triple H at Wrestlemania 27…

Undertaker and Triple H had faced each other at Wrestlemania before but this one was very special and necessary for a few reasons…

1. Their match at Wrestlemania 27 would be a rematch from their previous Wrestlemania 17 showdown ten years before… which Undertaker won.
2. It’d make sense for Triple H to try and avenge his best friend Shawn Michaels, who had his career ended by the Undertaker.
3. Triple H and Undertaker, like Shawn and Taker, have both been near-exclusives to the RAW and SmackDown! brands respectively. Therefore, they’ve not really had any big programs together for almost a decade. This was unique.

The first match was made No Holds Barred match. This helped appeal to the intensity of both these characters. These men could go all out and they did. It was hard-hitting and it just helped Taker and HHH thrive. This was not like the wrestling masterpiece that the Michaels/Taker matches were. This was a straight up battle. It suited both men well.

This match was also unique in it’s layout. The story of the match was last outlaw of WWE refusing to give up as Triple H was wanting to put him away. It was not like Undertaker and Triple H just had a great back-and-forth match. It was initially, but then Triple H just simply battered Undertaker. He battered him with chairs, pedigrees and even a TOMBSTONE of his own! However, Undertaker still refused to give. Triple H wanted to end things with his trusty sledgehammer, but Undertaker locked on Hells Gate to make Triple H tap and escape with the streak intact. However, Undertaker ended up being carried out on a stretcher. Undertaker won, but it hardly seemed like a victory. This match was the brightest spark during a pretty lame Wrestlemania 27. The ending was also the perfect set-up for a rematch…

While Undertaker had spent the year on the sidelines, Triple H had been through a fair amount of character development. Following Money In The Bank 2011, Triple H would take the reins in WWE as the COO. He had traded in his wrestling gear for a suit as he started doing more paperwork than pedigrees. On an episode of RAW in January 2012, Triple H was about to fire Interim GM John Laurinaitis. As he was doing it though, we heard that all too familiar gong. Undertaker returned, hinting towards the rematch. However, Triple H seemed to take a pass on one final match.

Despite pressure from Undertaker and even Shawn Michaels, Triple H refused to face Taker as he didn’t want to destroy the “brand” of the streak that helped made Wrestlemania such a success. It was great that the build up to this match was also able to tie-in to Triple H’s role as COO as well. Undertaker was adamant about erasing the memory of Triple H forcing Taker onto a stretcher the year before and offered Triple H one more shot at immortality. Undertaker went as far as to call HHH a coward and claim Shawn was always better than him, which pushed HHH over the edge. Triple H accepted on one condition… Hell in a Cell.

This was an appropriate finish to this four year storyline. As pointed out, Taker and HHH had a lot of history inside the cell. A standard match might have not had as much impact. The Cell made more sense from a storyline standpoint. Shawn Michaels was also added to the match as he had the streak in the palm of his hand. The stage is set. At Wrestlemania 28, Taker beat Triple H in the cell to take the streak to 20-0 and end the era which I believe was simply this four year storyline. While a lot of people might not have gotten the “End of an Era” billing of the match, I think it was just this era of Wrestlemania matches which was centred around Michaels, Taker and HHH. Jim Ross was also brought into to commentate the match and did a great job.

Now, I’m going to say something which will not be a popular opinion… I was left disappointed by this match. This was by no means a terrible match. It was not as great as their match at Wrestlemania 27 but it was still a great match. However, there were a few things about it that really hurt the match in my opinion.

The first issue I had with it was Shawn Michaels as the special referee. The reason Shawn gets a bit of criticism is because it wasn’t really made clear what his motivation was leading into this match. It was kind of hinted on television that he was going to screw Undertaker. However, the storyline in the match became about whether Michaels would allow his friend to do what Michaels himself was unable to do or if he would help his friend end the streak of the man that had ended Michaels’ career. Therefore, everything Shawn was doing as the referee was just dead confusing to me. He teased calling for the bell, then he jumped in when Triple H was beating Undertaker with the chair and then he tried to screw Taker himself with the super kick. By the way, that Super Kick/Pedigree spot was the highlight of the night.

The point is, Michaels’ actions just came off as so confusing that it looked for all the world like he was Darth Vader struggling to decide between saving Luke or siding with the Emperor but it was done in such a complicated matter that it took way from his role as referee. There was also the use of the Hell in a Cell itself. Now let me just make clear that I did not expect HHH and Taker to do something crazy like going to the top of the cell. However, HHH said in a promo leading into the match that he and Taker should “go all the way.” To me, it didn’t look like they “went all the way.” It looked like they just did a repeat of the match from the year before, added Shawn Michaels and a Cell. They rarely ever used the cell. I would have preferred it if they just left it to being a singles match with Shawn as the referee. At least then, the cell wouldn’t have limited Triple H and Undertaker.

With that being said though, this was still a great match. The hug at the end was great and it was a great way for this saga to end.

How I Would Book… Wrestlemania 29 [Part 4] – CM Punk vs Undertaker

Alright, so here’s the very last installment in this particular How I Would Book. Firstly, make sure you check out the first three parts first before reading this last scenario as I do mention a few things related to those posts…

Part 1 – CM Punk vs The Rock vs John Cena

Part 2 – CM Punk vs Ryback

Part 3 – The Rock vs Ryback

Also do check out DenkOps “What If” video related to this particular scenario. He does a great job illustrating the storyline with WWE 2K15 and do check that out below.

In the last three parts, we’ve looked at a number of alternative main event matches for Wrestlemania 29. We’ve looked at scenarios like triple threat matches, CM Punk’s historic WWE title reign ending at the event and even Ryback walking out of the event. Now we’ve got to do ONE MORE scenario. And believe it or not, it’s actually an idea that the writers were toying with to end the show.

This is actually a match that ended up appearing on the show anyway, but it could have a totally different meaning if this idea were to have come to fruition. This match could have actually main-evented the show with the WWE Championship at stake. That’s right. CM Punk’s title reign as WWE title would continue to Wrestlemania, where he would put the title on the line against the legendary Wrestlemania streak of the Undertaker…

There’s actually NOT a lot to say about this particular main event. CM Punk would be riding high at I think 500 days or so as WWE Champion heading into Wrestlemania. He is clearly the top heel in the company on top of his game, having beaten the likes of John Cena, Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan. And with this theory, he’ll obviously go over The Rock at the Royal Rumble which makes his title reign even more historic. Like I’ve mentioned before, The Rock’s loss at the Royal Rumble would be caused by John Cena leading into their rematch at the same event. The only difference is that CM Punk and Undertaker would be for the title and NOT Cena vs Rock II.

Undertaker on the other hand extended his Wrestlemania streak to 20-0 and may feel that he doesn’t have much else to prove. Then he sees Punk with his historic title reign and would seek to challenge. Eventually, we’ll get Undertaker putting up his undefeated streak against CM Punk’s WWE title. “Streak vs Title” has a nice ring to it don’t you think?

Undertaker challenging Punk for the title would happen in one of two ways:

Firstly, someone OTHER than Undertaker or John Cena would win the Royal Rumble match and challenge the World Heavyweight Champion, while CM Punk would retain his WWE title against The Rock. This would lead to CM Punk retaining the title to at Elimination Chamber but his celebrations would be cut short by the Deadman, who’d tombstone Punk and pose with his title. Undertaker or Punk would make the challenge for Mania and you have your match.

While this one would prevent Undertaker from working as much and keep him fresh for their Mania match, whoever were to end the WWE title reign of CM Punk SHOULD really be the one who wins the Royal Rumble. Having Taker just call Punk out on RAW doesn’t have the same effect. Which brings me to scenario number two…

Undertaker would return to win the Royal Rumble. While from a business-standpoint, announcing Undertaker’s participation beforehand would be the ideal solution. However, with The Rock already being the main attraction of the card, promoting Undertaker would seem rather pointless. Hype up The Rock challenging for the WWE title and keep Undertaker a surprise. Plus, it adds to the mystique of his character by having him shocking the WWE universe in this manner.

He’s the surprise #30 entrant or something and is part of the final three between himself, John Cena and Ryback. Ryback would eliminate Cena and Cena would look really down. He’s a lost a chance to potentially get his redemption back by beating The Rock after being eliminated Ryback. Cena goes to back knowing there’s only one way for him to get his redemption now. And of course, you know where that would lead to. Cena costs The Rock the title later on that night. But back to the Rumble, we’re down to Ryback and The Undertaker.

I personally think the fans would be popping for this. Feed Me More Chants, Let’s Go Taker. There’s a lot going for both these for this final two to be even more impactful. These two clobber each other and somehow, Taker eliminates Ryback. I think that makes Ryback stand out even more than he did in the real Royal Rumble match of 2013. He’s just eliminated John Cena and it took the Undertaker of all people to eliminate him. But the end-game of all of this is having Undertaker go over. Punk retains later on and we’ve got our main event already set. What happens next?

Now, it would be OK for Taker to be away from TV for a while. He shows up on RAW maybe and the first shots are fired between him or Punk. He chokeslams Punk or whatever, unsettling the champion. Punk is a little rocked by it, but he has to focus on the Elimination Chamber. Whether he’s in the Elimination Chamber or he’s in another match or whatever, Punk walks out the champion. At the end of the night, Taker comes back to try and attack Punk. However, Punk reverses and hits the GTS. Punk had Taker scouted and it makes Punk looks just as strong as he’s ready for anything Undertaker can throw at him.

And not a lot else needs to be said. There would already be a lot going with this feud as it is. CM Punk’s WWE title and Undertaker’s streak are both on the line. And to be honest, Paul Bearer’s real-life death gives WWE even more to work with. As much as I’d hate to bring real-life incidents into storylines, it’s just another thing to add that will give this main event match even more meaning. Now to the match…

I would ABSOLUTELY book Undertaker to win. For Undertaker it’s the good-feel Rocky Balboa like ending which sees the old-timer making one last comeback to win the WWE title from the seemingly unbeatable WWE Champion. However, there would obviously a bit of an issue with Undertaker winning the title. Undertaker’s not exactly in the best of conditions in this particular part of his career. Yeah he was able to do the matches with The Shield and Dean Ambrose later on in the month, but WWE now has a champion who’s unable to do a full-time schedule. Having Taker drop the belt back to Punk the next night on RAW would really take away from the Wrestlemania match in the first place if Punk is just going to win it back a day later.

WWE could do what they would end up doing with Brock Lesnar and have the WWE title not be defended until an event like Summerslam. But five PPVs or so with the title NOT being defended really wouldn’t be great for business. I would go with having Undertaker dropping the belt to somebody ELSE at Extreme Rules and Taker leave after that. Not to dispute Punk’s claim for a title shot, but what’s the point in him winning the title again a month later after the longest title reign in the modern era? Also, according to Punk, he’s really banged-up post Wrestlemania. So with Punk taking time off anyway, you’d have to think of someone else that could win the title.

I could go through an alternate scenario of if CM Punk WERE to break the streak, but I think I’m going to leave that for a future post and call it a day.

That’s it for this particular series. Again, not to knock the Rock vs Cena II main event completely, but it really lacks the Wrestlemania-feel ending like the rest of these scenarios do. Whether’s it’s one more title run for Undertaker, the emergence of Ryback as the newest face of the WWE or the end of CM Punk’s historic title reign, these four hopefully provided a number of main events that would have been talked about a lot more than Rock vs Cena II.

Do vote in the poll over what YOU think should have been the main event of Wrestlemania. And please comment or tweet @ArmbarExpress with your thoughts on this particular series!

NOTE: The (c) in the poll below indicates who the champion walking into the match is. E.g. CM Punk (c) vs Undertaker would have CM Punk entering as champion.

Wrestlemania baby! WOOOOOO! WWE Wrestlemania 29 Preview and PREDICTIONS!

Guys. On Sunday, it’s event everyone is waiting for. It happens only once a year. It is shown all around the world. And it is the pinnacle of sports entertainment. Ladies and gentleman…. are you ready?

NO! I SAID…..

ARE YOU READY?

Then….. LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLETS GET READY TO PREDICT IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!

…….Yeah.

WRESTLEMANIA 29 IS THIS SUNDAY! Sunday Night for the US. Monday Morning for the UK. And if I wasn’t back at University on Monday, I’d be watching this event LIVE! But I’m not. But when I do eventually watch it (thank you desirulez) it’ll be a slobberknocker of a show… I hope.

To be honest, looking at this year’s card is doesn’t look THAT appealing. But I’m a little excited because it is Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania is the show where the stars come out and the lights are on bright. The Rock! CM Punk! John Cena! Triple H! Undertaker! BROCK LESNAR! Chris Jericho! Shawn Michaels! Everyone is here! And it’s time to do some predictions!

The Battle Of The Dancers: “Y2J” Chris Jericho vs FAAAAAAAAANDAAAAAAAAAANGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Background: Out of the blue, we get promos hyping up the debut of a new superstar. And soon enough, the new guy arrived. I mean this guy was certainty hard to miss. Had some amazing gear on, a face that looks like it got hit with a frying pan, epic dance moves, and an beautiful dance partner at his side. His name was… well, that’s the thing. We thought his name was Fandango, but apparently, everyone was saying his name wrong. For a couple of weeks, he’d come out all dancing, but when Justin Roberts mispronounces his name, he’d go in a fit, and refuse to wrestle. He even gave The Great Khali a chance to say his name right. But errrmmm….

Right. Anyway, this would go on for a couple of weeks until Fandango met someone, who was actually a contestant in the American version of Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing With The Stars. His name? Y2J Chris Jericho. Fandango then asked Jericho to pronounce his name. But Jericho took a lot more of a humorous approach to the name…

This obviously pissed off Fan-dangler, who would assault Jericho several times on RAW and SmackDown! Having had enough of the attacks, Jericho went to Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero, and set up Chris Jericho vs Fandango for WRESTLEMANIA!

What I think should happen?: Normally in these situations when the newcomer would face the veteran, I’d back the newcomer. A victory over the well-established veteran would be a big boost for the newcomer. However, I’m not going to do that here. Chris Jericho should really get the victory here. I’d be really mad if Fandango won here. Firstly, because I’m a huge Chris Jericho fan. Secondly, especially on a stage like Wrestlemania, Chris Jericho shouldn’t really lose to someone like Fandango, someone who’s character is just getting started. Yeah, if Fandango was facing someone like R-Truth or a mid-carder, yeah. But this is Chris Jericho. I understand Chris Jericho wants to help put people over, but if they give Fandango the victory, then that means that they are putting so much effort into this guy over heels who need the push more, like Wade Barrett (Yes, I like using Wade Barrett as an example a lot. XD). Fandango needs to work his way up, and fight lower-cards first before facing someone like Chris Jericho. So I’m saying I want…. Chris Jericho to win.

What I think will happen?: Unfortunately, all the signs point to Fandango winning this. Since returning in 2012, Chris Jericho has put over a lot of wrestlers, and would probably want to help Fandango out to, and if it meant losing to him, he would. Also, WWE have an unhealthy obsession of having wrestlers rise through the rankings in WWE very quickly, and winning their debuts over main-event players. So I’m saying they’ll have…. Fandango win. -.-

“Team Hell-No” Kane and Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Background: Since winning the WWE Tag Team Titles, Kane and Daniel Bryan (otherwise known as Team Hell-No) have been a force to be reckoned with in the tag team division. Lately however, the team started having some problems. It started in the Royal Rumble match, where Daniel Bryan eliminated his own partner Kane. Daniel was then pushed over the top rope by Antonio Cesaro, and knocked into the arms of the eliminated Kane, who decided not to save his partner from being eliminated and let him drop to the floor. The two then suffered more problems in the World Title Number One Contendership Elimination Chamber match, when Daniel Bryan tried a roll-up on Kane, nearly eliminating him from the match. With this act of betrayal by Bryan, Kane and Bryan went after each other in the match. However, neither man were successful in winning the chamber. Daniel would then get involved in this argument with former girlfriend AJ Lee…

After flat out owning Miss AJ Lee, Daniel and Kane were both challenged to a match for the tag titles by the team of AJ’s boyfriend Dolph Ziggler and his and AJ’s bodyguard, Big E Langston. The two would accept, and the match would be scheduled for Wrestlemania.

What I think should happen?: Kane and Daniel Bryan. I’m sorry, but I don’t like the thought of Ziggler and Langston being tag champions. I think if D-Bry and Kane should lose the tag titles, it should be to a legitimate tag team, not some guy and his bodyguard. Also, there aren’t a lot of face tag teams around to face Ziggler and Langston for the titles. We have, the Usos and “Lords Of The Dance” Brodus Clay and Tensai. Oh by the way, I don’t think Dolph Ziggler will or should cash in Money In The Bank tonight either.

What I think will happen?: Ziggy and Big E win the titles. I think WWE believe that the Team Hell-No story has hit a slump, and I think they want to pull the plug on it. Also, a tag title reign buys Ziggler a couple of more months as Mr Money In The Bank, and I think they want him to go down to the wire as Mr Money In The Bank.

The Lords Of The Dance And The Funkadactyls vs Team Rhodes-Scholars and The Bella Twins

Background: Matt Bloom returned to WWE donning the name of Tensai the night after Wrestlemania 29. Under this name, Tensai started of in WWE well, getting countless victories and even knocked off John Cena on RAW in the UK. However, when John Cena cleanly beat him a short time later, it all went downhill from there. He began losing to everyone – CM Punk, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston. This losing streak eventually lead him losing to even Santino Marrella at the 2012 Slammys. Seeing Tensai constantly humiliated, Brodus Clay offered his help. Despite being hesitant at first, Tensai began to bond with Brodus and even started dancing down to the ring with him. The duo later became a tag team called Tons Of Fun (which is a little annoying, as I believe Lords Of The Dance is a lot more suitable name. -.-). The two even defeat Team Rhodes-Scholars at Elimination Chamber. Angered by the defeat, the two teams would begin a feud, and it wasn’t just the men getting physical. Brodus and Tensai’s Funkadactyls (Cameron and Namoi) started feuding with new girlfriends and newly-reinstated twins, Nikki and Brie Bella. Eventually, a 8 person tag was booked with Tons of Funk and their Funkadactyls facing Team Rhodes-Scholars and the Bella Twins.

What I think should happen?: Honestly, this match shouldn’t even take place. Intergender matches aren’t that great to watch. While I was impressed with the Bellas vs Funkadactyls match on RAW this Monday, there are a lot of great superstars not even on the card. Where the hell is Antonio Cesaro on the Wrestlemania card? -.- If I have to pick, I’d have to say I want Rhodes-Scholars and the Bellas to win.

What I think will happen?: Clay, Tensai, Cameron and Namoi win. This is simply a brief crowd pleaser. The faces will win, the faces will dance. End of.

Wade Barrett vs The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship

Background: These two began feuding when both Barrett and Miz appeared on Y2J’s Highlight Reel on RAW, and argued about their recent movie releases. Wade Barrett has Dead Man Down, and The Miz had the Marine 3 (I personally don’t want to see either of them films). These two would eventually be booked in a triple threat for the IC Title on RAW, alongside Chris Jericho. Barrett would retain the title, but after The Miz defeat Wade Barrett in a non-title match the next week, Miz was given the opportunity to fight for the title again, on the pre-show of Wrestlemania 29, against Wade Barrett.

What I think should happen?: Well first of all, why the hell is this match not on the main show? Why is the IC title match not on the main show? They are really bringing down the prestige of the belt. The IC Title should be defended on the grand-daddy of them all, and Barrett and Miz deserve more than this. But anyway, I want Barrett to retain. Miz had his run as IC Champion. The more Barrett wins, the better champion he is. Wade Barrett should win.

What I think will happen?: I think Barrett will indeed win. I don’t see Miz beating him here, especially on the pre-show. Yeah, titles have changed hands on the pre-show before, but if Miz were to win the title, they wouldn’t have him do it on a pre-show. Barrett will win this. No sweat. NEXT.

“The King Of Putting Himself Over” Triple H vs BRRRRRROOCK LLLLLEESNAR!

Background: The night after Wrestlemania 29, Brock Lesnar made his return to WWE after 8 long years, by sending out an emphatic statement to the WWE Universe..

While back, Brock Lesnar started making ridiculous demands from the WWE. He wanted his own private jet, he wanted a lot more money, and he wanted to show to be renamed – “Monday Night Raw: Starring Brock Lesnar”. Having enough of Lesnar holding up the WWE, the COO of WWE Triple H came out and told Lesnar that he wasn’t going to have any of his new requests, and pleaded with him to stay in WWE under the contract that Lesnar and WWE first agreed to which were “more than fair”. Upset with not getting what he wanted, Lesnar took out his frustrations on the COO, breaking his arm…

The next week, Paul Heyman, legal representative of Brock Lesnar and former head of ECW, came out on RAW and addressed the WWE universe on Lesnar’s behalf. He basically stated that Lesnar has quit WWE in protest of Triple H not letting him have the new additions to his contract. He would go on to state that Triple H would be sued for publicly breaching the agreement made with Lesnar (by tearing up the new contract before being attacked) and for an assault by Triple H on Heyman himself. At No Way Out, Triple H made a proposal – Triple H vs Brock Lesnar at Summerslam in exchange for dropping the lawsuits. Heyman initially rejected the match, but eventually accepted on RAW 1000, after some goading by Triple H’s wife, Stephanie McMahon (who stills looks as stunning as ever, may I add). At Summerslam, Brock Lesnar defeated Triple H. And guess how he did it?

Yep, he broke Triple H’s arm again, and the next night on RAW, declared himself as the conquer of WWE, and left… like a boss. He came back in late January, planting Vince McMahon with an F5. Apparently resigned by Vickie Guerrero, Lesnar would interfere in a fight between Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon on RAW, and was about to attack Vince again, before “The Game” Triple H came back and… basically kicked Brock Lesnar’s ass. Triple H challenged him to a rematch at Wrestlemania 29. Lesnar and Heyman agreed, but only they could pick two stipulations of their choosing and them stipulations would not be revealed until Triple H signed the contract. Despite not knowing the stipulations of the match, Triple H signed on the dotted line. Heyman would then reveal that the match at Wrestlemania would be… NO HOLDS BARRED (little bit anti-climatic like. I wanted it to be Hell In A Cell 😦 ). Heyman also revealed that if Triple H lost the match, HIS CAREER WOULD BE OVER! DUH, DUH, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

What I think should happen?: Brock Lesnar kicks Triple H’s ass! But then again, if Triple H retired, then he’d give himself 5000 tribute shows and highlight videos, increasing his ego tenfold. Either way, I want the match to certainty be an improvement on their match at Summerslam, which was a bit of a let down.

What I think will happen?: Triple H wins. Puts himself over! Goes back into hiding. -.- Not exactly happy with having to admit that like. I know what’ll cheer me up!

🙂 What a voice! I could listen to him say BROCK LESNAR all day! XD

The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose) vs SmackDown!’s Crusade (Big Show, Sheamus and Randy Orton)

Background: Since debuting back at Survivor Series, The Shield have been a force to be reckoned with in WWE. They’ve taken out Ryback about a 1000 times, won their last two matches at TLC and Elimination Chamber (and looked awesome while doing it), and have taken out nearly everyone in WWE. Randy Orton and Sheamus stood up and said “You know. We’re not going to take this any more” and accepted a challenge thrown down by The Shield to face them at Wrestlemania in a 3 on 3. They initially chose Ryback as their 3 partner, but he was taken out the match by Vickie Guerrero. Big Show would then start to form an alliance with Sheamo and Orton, and despite not exactly liking each other, the 3 began working together for the greater good of the WWE. Big Show then officially became their partner for the match at Wrestlemania.

What I think should happen?: Simple. The Shield win (BELIEVE IN THE SHIELD!) and Randy Orton turns heel. Regardless of the match quality. Give me them two things WWE, and I will be satisfied.

What I think will happen?: The Shield will win (BELIEVE IN THE SHIELD!) and someone turns heel (probably Randy Orton). Not exactly difficult to work this one out.

“The Best In The World” CM Punk vs The Undeeeerrrrrrrrrrtakeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrr!

Background: After losing the WWE Championship to The Rock at the Royal Rumble, losing the rematch at Elimination Chamber, and losing to John Cena on RAW 2 weeks after, “The Best In The World” CM Punk would choose to set his sets on one man – The Undertaker, who had just returned to the WWE in time for Wrestlemania. After defeating Sheamus, Big Show and Randy Orton in a fatal four way match on Old School RAW, CM Punk earned the right to face The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. In order to gain the mental advantage on the Undertaker, CM Punk needed to make things personal. And as it just happened… Paul Bearer died in real life. So, in the ultimate act of disrespect, CM Punk interrupted Undertaker’s tribute to Bearer the next week. Punk would then steal Undertaker’s sacred urn and began teasing him with it. Punk wanted to win at Wrestlemania and break his undefeated streak, and would even accept a Disqualification or count out victory. So getting him pissed off before the event, could get him pissed off enough to get himself DQ’d. Punk has gotten the upper hand in the mind game department, but while Mind Games be enough to defeat the Phenom at Wrestlemania, and enter Punk into the realm of wrestling legends.

What I think should happen?: Undertaker wins and goes 21-0. The Streak should never die.

What I think will happen?: Undertaker wins and goes 21-0. The Streak will never die.

“The Real American” Jack Swagger vs “The Mexican Aristocrat” Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship

Background: Jack Swagger returned to WWE just after Royal Rumble, and declared his interest to be in the Elimination Chamber match for a shot at the World Title at Wrestlemania. With a couple of “impressive” victories (over jobbers like Santino and Zack Ryder) he was put in the chamber,  and amazingly… he won it. He gained a shot at the World Title, and despite getting arrested for DUI, was still in the title match at Mania. Swagger joined forces with Zeb Colter, who both tried to show the WWE what it is to be a real American, and said the American Government were weak for letting in illegal immigrants into the country. He also said that the World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio is an inspiration for other illegal immigrants to cross the border to gain the amount of success he has. Del Rio was getting pissed off at these statements, and got even madder at Swagger, for “breaking” his close friend and personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez’s ankle.

What I think should happen?: Alberto Del Rio wins. Swagger doesn’t deserve to win. He doesn’t even deserve to be in the main event. How can WWE just look past Swagger’s DUI arrest and possession of weed? I will be seriously pissed off if the “Real American” Jack Swagger is given the World Title now. -.-

What I think will happen?: Alberto Del Rio wins. Personally, I don’t think WWE are done with this feud yet, and these two will go on to Extreme Rules and probably face each other in a submission match or something. And I think they’d have Del Rio walk into the rematch as champion.

Ryback vs Mark Henry – FEED ME MORE!!!!!!!!!! vs THAT’S WHAT I DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Background: Mark Henry came out and confronted Ryback on Old School RAW after the latter gained a victory over Antonio Cesaro. Henry would then deliver THREE World’s Strongest Slams to Ryback on SmackDown!, which led to Vickie Guerrero pulling Ryback out of his scheduled 6 man tag team match against The Shield, and put him up against “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry. Since then, a battle of one-upmanship began between the two. When Mark Henry defeated The Uso in a handicap match on RAW, later on in the show, Ryback defeated The 3 Man Band in a handicap match. Who will win the battle of the titans?

What I think should happen?: Personally, I don’t like the thought of Mark Henry losing at Wrestlemania this year. He’s actually been really good since his return and had a great display of dominance in the Elimination Chamber match, laying out everyone in the ring. He’s even found a great new catchphrase…

BUT, as much as I like Mark Henry right now, Ryback needs this win. He’s had FIVE PPV losses in a row! FIVE! For a man who’s supposed to be a big deal in WWE, he hasn’t shown much dominance in PPVs. A big victory over Mark Henry would really get the ball rolling on the Ryback project again. I’m going with Ryback.

What I think will happen?: Ryback will win. I think they want Ryback to have his “Wrestlemania Moment” and deliver shell-shocked to Mark Henry. FEED ME MORE!

Finally……

The Main Event (I think)

The Rock vs John Cena for the WWE Championship

Background: At Wrestlemania 28, The Rock defeated John Cena in the “Once In A Lifetime” match, and declared that he would regain the WWE Championship. And at Royal Rumble, he did. He defeated CM Punk to become WWE Champion for the first time in about 8 years. Coincidently enough, John Cena just so happened to win the Royal Rumble that night, and earn another chance to go one on one, with the great one. TWICE IN A LIFETIME!

What I think should happen?: I think the part-time WWE Champion The Rock needs to be dethroned as champion, even if John Cena is the one to do it. John Cena should win.

What I think will happen?: It’s not exactly rocket science… John Cena wins.

PHEW.

Anyway, I’ll see you later this week for my Wrestlemania 29. I don’t know when it’ll be, but it should be done this week if I have enough time to. BYE! And have fun watching WRESTLEMANIA!